Ken and Harry – what we can learn from the two personal brands
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A few weeks ago, two well-known business leaders said goodbye to all of us. The fact that they both said goodbye to us within a day was such a coincidence. We don’t know where or when, but two legends who stood up for what they thought was right concluded their trip to likely start a new one.
Seeing what they stood for and how they accomplished their goals is what counts. Since we are all human, there will be highs and lows, good and bad. For someone who aspires to rise in life, their legacy is generally more significant. The two characters will both teach us something. They both obviously had a great deal of equity under their personal brands, and one of the key aspects is that they were renowned for their performance rather than their awareness.
Brands are often well-known (Awareness), followed by affiliations and performance. Ultimately, their customers/followers fall in love with them and stay faithful to them (Loyalty). It’s difficult to determine how many of the thousands of workers stuck with these two. In retrospect, however, they had both accomplished so much that their respective performances were incomparable.
Ken-balendra
Ken Balendran – Ken was the first chairman of John Keells Holdings from Sri Lanka. He had a passion for his work. He took such pleasure in his work that he was featured in the press as “Walkers Tours Chairman, carrying tourist bags” when he arrived at the airport to help with bags of tourists who came down to Sri Lanka as customers of Walkers Tours. Ken was a true level 5 leader, as Jim Collin discusses in his well-known book, Good to Great. He approached the situation with a balance between his professional will and humanity. He underwent a tremendous journey to become the first chairman to be born in Sri Lanka and to succeed as a British chairman after entering JKH as a trainee (Probably a creeper) in the
plantation industry.
He was able to execute strategies with 20,000 people despite not attending any university, having no theoretical knowledge, nor having three letters after his name. Regardless of his amiability (“Humility”), he also possessed a “Professional-Will”. It’s this combination that makes someone a “Level – 5 Leader”. He was always on time for meetings and he expected the same punctuality from his board members too, regardless of how important the individual was, if someone was late for a board meeting, they had to stay outside.
Being able to enjoy what he achieved is another crucial lesson to be learnt from his life experience. He was able to be happy and satisfied with his corporate work because it allowed him to align his goals and values with the possibilities that were provided to him. In addition, he was a go-getter and a man of his values. Playing rugby for Ceylon’s national side was one of his dreams that never came true. From 1957 until 1960, he played consistently for Royal College’s first-15. Apart from that, he had fulfilled all of his life’s ambitions, hence it can be said that he led a contented life till passing away on his 85th birthday (03.02.1940 – 03.02.2025).
Another unconventional thinker with the ability to see the future, Harry Jayawardene, better known by his stage name Harry J, was tenacious and diligent until he realised his vision. Harry was more ambitious and entrepreneurial than Ken, and he aspired to become the chairman of a company he founded on his own.
Like Ken, Harry began his career in the tea trade as a tea taster under the supervision of British officials. Later, during the reign of Sirimavo Bandaranayake, he was able to set up his own tea-exporting company. Despite being accused of buying SLIC (Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation), industry insiders concur that if Harry J hadn’t used his magic wand to turn SLIC around during his brief time as chairman, the company would not have come close to becoming the market leader or to what it has accomplished thus far. Under his direction, SLIC, DCSL, Lanka Milk-food, and numerous other government entities that were not earning sufficient profit were turned into successful businesses.
Harry Jayawardene
He was skilled at establishing frameworks to take charge of uncontrollable entities where inefficiencies were taking over daily operations. Harry J’s daring approach to dealing with change and resistance is responsible for these companies’ success. Although Damien Fernando, Janz, and other directors had a significant role in putting these tactics into practice, it was mostly because of his qualities that the organisational setups had to alter their previous methods to be successful and competent.
Some of the staff members who worked with him claimed that he had the extraordinary capacity to scan a paper in a matter of seconds and understand its contents. Few case studies were able to raise the bar for the majority of these institutes because, although some may refer to it as micromanagement, it was actually sending a message to the rest of the personnel.
The common factors to be seen in both characters were:
- Both had begun their careers in Sri Lanka’s tea industry, which at the time was one of the most promising economic sectors.
- Despite challenges, neither gave up and continued to ascend the ladder to the top.
- No matter how far they rose in life or their careers, both maintained their modesty and simplicity.
- They also developed followers who could step up and take over in their place to ensure the long-term viability of the companies they founded.
- Since it was likely the only option to create fresh opportunities, both contested macro elements to make things right for their business ambitions.
- By enhancing their businesses and improving the lives of their people, they both developed their brands rather than just communicating and amplifying minor achievements blowing them out of proportion.
For anyone interested in learning about the two personas and personal brands, there is a wealth of information available in the public domain. I hope this piece honours them both!
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